It was an unexpected moment on the campaign trail.

Labour leader Ed Miliband had stopped his campaign bus in the northwest England city of Chester when he was mobbed by a bachelorette party waving iPhones and chanting "Selfie! Selfie!"

Miliband, often depicted as a geek, offered a few weak high-fives, posed uncomfortably with the women in pink sashes draped over their dresses and then hurried back onto the bus.